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Vilnius expects the move to drive up job creation to at least 2,000 new vacancies in the market in the next five years.

Lithuania hasapproved an exemption from corporate tax, currently at 15%, for companiesmaking large investments within its national territory.

The approvalof the amendment to the Law on Corporation Tax from the Ministry of the Economyand Innovation on an exemption from corporate tax will facilitate thedevelopment of local and foreign capital-based large investment projects at anational level, including in free economic zones.

The draft onthe law, which is being submitted to the Seimas (Lithuanias parliament) forconsideration, and a package of draft laws on investment known as the greencorridor (which has already been submitted to the Seimas) both propose aprecise definition of a large investment project.

According tothese laws, a large investment project constitutes a project in dataprocessing, internet server services and related activities, or manufacturing,where the value of investment in fixed assets is at least EUR 30 million andwhich will create at least 200 new jobs that are to be maintained for fiveyears.

The movecomes as the Baltic nation continues to push for further national and foreigninvestment across a range of sectors, including IT infrastructure.

For datacentres, the EUR 30 million figure is one that is usually easily reachable by operatorsand investors when building new facilities, especially large scale.

At Data Economys Finvest Summit 2020 in Zurich, Switzerland, Vice-Minister for Economy and Innovation Elijus Civilis told the audience of Lithuanias plans to attract large data centre and other IT infrastructure investments.

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The countryhas set up a data centre park close to the capital, Vilnius, where the sitecurrently offers 85MW of power with an additional 120MW of power available atcustom request.

The KruonisData Center Park is located next to the 900MW Kruonis Hydro Pumped StoragePower Plant and within the countrys Free Economic Zone.

MariusSkuodis, also Vice-Minister of Economy and Innovation, said: We hope thatthese amendments will enable the creation of around 2,000 new jobs in Lithuaniaover a period of five years, including in more remote regions of the country.

Our aim isto ensure the use of various means to attract large-scale, high-employment FDIprojects and to offer additional incentives for Lithuanian businesses that arewilling to expand.

Skuodis addedthat one of the main constraints that is preventing Lithuania from successfullycompeting with other countries in attracting and maintaining investment is alack of tax incentives for investors implementing large projects.

The corporate tax incentive and the green corridor package eliminate this shortcoming, and also mean that investors will benefit from faster procedures in a number of areas including territorial planning, construction, land-use planning, and migration, he said.

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